It's Not Always About Revenge
by blue-genjutsu
Summary: Someone is out for revenge and Naruto gets caught in the middle. But despite all the tragedy that comes from it, something that Naruto has been wishing for, all his life, finally comes true. SasuNaru, Yaoi
1. The shock of betrayal

**It's Not Always About Revenge**

**Summary**: Someone is out for revenge and Naruto gets caught in the middle. But despite all the tragedy that comes from it, something that Naruto has been wishing for, all his life, finally comes true. SasuNaru, Yaoi

**Warnings**: Character deaths, language and spoilers for non-manga readers, but they aren't pointed out in the story. Only the manga readers will probably know what the spoilers are in this story. Future lemons.

**Author's Notes**: Hopefully this story will not be too confusing for the non-manga readers since there are spoilers mixed in with my own theories (and other people's) of what could happen (or be revealed) in the future manga chapters. But more than likely, what Kishimoto will reveal in coming chapters will not be anything like what I put in this story. This story starts three months after the events that are currently taking place in the latest chapters of the manga. Both Sasuke and Naruto are 16 in this story. All the other characters' ages can be figured out from this information, since I'm not changing their birth dates in this story.

_1st Person thoughts are represented in italics._

**Chapter One: The shock of betrayal**

Naruto stared down at the gaping hole in his chest, his features filled with shock. "Why?" he whispered, voice filled with the pain he felt, which was not only physical, but emotional, too. He looked up at the person that was standing above him. Naruto's eyes begged for an explanation.

The woman didn't answer. Her face was emotionless, eyes blank. Though she was looking at the blond, it was almost as if she was looking at someone, or something, else.

"I don't understand. Please, Sakura-chan..." Naruto's voice drifted off as his shocked mind tried to come up with a reason for why this was happening.

Naruto couldn't understand why his friend, the woman he trusted the most, would all of a sudden drive a chakra-enforced fist right through his chest. It just didn't make any sense to him. They hadn't been fighting. They had been coming back from a mission and Kakashi had left them in order to get a very important item back to the Hokage. Actually, as Naruto thought about it some more, he remembered that it was Sakura who had asked Kakashi if he would head back on his own, so that she could talk with Naruto in private. After all, they were only an hour away from Konoha and both Sakura and Naruto were strong enough to defend themselves if needed.

But for the past thirty minutes, all that he and Sakura had ended up talking about, was gossip concerning their friends back in Konoha. They hadn't said anything that Kakashi probably didn't already know. Was this her plan all along? To get him alone so she could kill him? _But why?!_ When Naruto realized that Sakura wasn't going to say anything and seemed to be in some kind of a daze, he tried to get up. But the wound was taking longer than normal to heal, so he cried out in pain as he fell back to the ground.

Sakura blinked, her eyes slowly re-focusing on her teammate. A smile slowly formed on her face, but it wasn't a very pleasant smile. Her eyes became hard. "Having some trouble there, Naruto? Hmm, looks like Kyuubi isn't healing you quickly enough. You're bleeding to death. Too bad. I really thought I would have to do more in order to kill you." Her smile got wider.

Naruto stared with fear at the woman._ What is wrong with Sakura?_ Then his own eyes grew hard and accusing. "You aren't Sakura! Who are you and what have you done with her?!"

Sakura laughed in amusement. "Don't be silly, idiot. This is me." Her eyes became cruel then, as her voice filled with malice. "You think someone else is doing this? No, Naruto, this is all me. I planned this. As for the reason why... it's because you are in the way!"

Naruto, stunned by the hatred that he could see in the other's eyes and hear in her voice, asked with his own eyes and voice filled with sadness and confusion, "I don't understand, Sakura-chan. What am I in the way of?"

Sakura sneered at the blond man. "Of me and Sasuke!" Her face then took on an expression that made her look as if she was a love-struck girl, fantasizing about the man of her dreams. Which apparently was true because of her next words, that were said in a very child-like way, "My Sasuke-kun will finally be coming home where he belongs. He told me, you know. He said he was coming back very soon and that he wanted me to wait for him."

Naruto stared in shock at her words. "What? Sasuke told you that? When?"

They hadn't seen Sasuke since the fight with Uchiha Madara, a few months back, when Sasuke and Naruto had both worked together to defeat the supposedly immortal villain. It had been the first time they had worked together since Sasuke had left Konoha to go to Orochimaru. But after that fight, Sasuke had just disappeared. Naruto, and the Konoha team that had been with him, had looked for any clue to find out where Sasuke had gone, but they hadn't been able to find any trace of him. He had just completely vanished, leaving his own team, Hebi, behind. _Did Sasuke really contact Sakura?_

Sakura smirked at her teammate. "He told me last night." Her face took on a dreamy expression again. "After we made love."

Shock again filled Naruto and he also felt a sharp pain in his chest. _I can't believe it. This is not happening._

Sakura laughed when she saw how her words had affected the blond. "Yes, we made love. He loves me. Not you. Me!"

_How did she know?!_ Naruto did his best to not let the pain that her words had caused him, to overwhelm him. She somehow knew, even though he had never told anyone of his true feelings for Sasuke. He hadn't even realized just how much he loved Sasuke until they had been fighting together again. It had just hit him. Naruto had realized that he could never truly be happy, unless he had Sasuke in his life. And Sasuke was more important to him than anyone else. Even the love that Naruto felt for Sakura couldn't compare to the love he had for Sasuke. But now wasn't the time to let his emotions carry him away. He had to know everything and he had to distract Sakura from noticing that his wound was healing. He was actually glad that it was taking a while, since it gave him more time to get answers.

"How am I in the way then? If Sasuke loves you and wants to be with you, then how am I in the way?"

Sakura started shaking in anger, her face became ugly as she looked at him with not only anger, but also hatred. "He told me that you would never let us be together! That you would use your influence with the Hokage to make sure that he and I could never be together as a couple. That you would be jealous of us because you're in love with him! He said that as long as you are alive, he and I can never be together."

Naruto shook his head. "That's not true, Sakura-chan! I want you and Sasuke to be happy. And I wouldn't interfere with that!"

Sakura laughed in derision. "Liar. Sasuke told me and you can't honestly believe that I'd take your word over his. You're such an idiot if you think you can fool me. I love him, Naruto. I would do anything for him, to be with him. Even, kill you."

_This is not Sakura. It can't be. Would Sasuke really tell her to kill me? Wouldn't he just kill me himself? None of this make any sense!_ Naruto decided that now was the time to act, since his wound was completely healed and he needed to get Sakura back to Tsunade, in order to find out what was wrong with her. His eyes turned to look past the woman. "So, Sasuke, is what she saying true?"

Sakura's eyes filled with shock, then happiness, as she quickly turned around, turning her back on the blond.

Naruto jumped up, then hit Sakura on the back of her head with his own chakra-enforced fist, hoping that he hadn't used too much force. When she fell down, he checked to make sure she was still breathing. Sighing with relief, he lifted her up, then slung her over his shoulder. He leaped up into the trees and sped off as fast as he could, hoping to get back to Konoha before she could wake up.

* * *

Tsunade opened the door to her office and walked in, closing the door behind her. She looked over to the window, her favorite shinobi turned around and looked anxiously at her. 

"She's fine, Naruto. I'll tell you what I can, after you tell me everything that happened." She walked over to her desk and sat down. Reaching down to open one of the drawers, she pulled out a bottle of sake.

Naruto glared at the Hokage in annoyance. He watched as she took a big swig from the bottle and when she finally looked at him again, he spoke, "Well, old woman, it's a really weird story." He fiddled with the hem of his jacket, trying to think of where to begin.

Tsunade's eyes locked onto the hole in the middle of Naruto's jacket, seeing the dark bloodstain surrounding it, worry and fear began to fill her. _How could I have missed that big hole in his jacket?!_

"Who did that?!" She got up from her chair and went over to the young man. Her hands smoothed over the bare skin that was showing through, making sure that he wasn't injured, even though there was no trace of a wound on his chest.

Naruto brushed her hands aside. "Sakura. I-it was Sakura-chan."

Seeing the shock on her face, he nodded. "Yeah, I told you it was a weird story."

Tsunade went back to her desk and sat down. Taking another swig of sake, she forced herself to calm down. Elbows on the desk and hands clasped together, she rested her chin on the backs of her fingers. After taking a deep breath, she ordered, "Go on, brat. I'm trying to be patient here, so spit it out."

Naruto nodded his head and then told the woman everything that had happened during the mission and up to when he was attacked, including everything that Sakura had said to him after.

After having sat patiently, without interrupting, while Naruto told her everything, Tsunade's anger had been building and when he finally stopped talking, she exploded. "I'll kill him! I'll send the hunter nin out and have them kill that bastard!"

"No! It had to be someone else!" Naruto took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Now wasn't the time to panic. He had to make her see that Sasuke couldn't be the one that did this. "I know someone else did this, old woman. Did you check to make sure that woman is really our Sakura-chan? And if she is, then couldn't she be under some kind of jutsu?"

Tsunade's thoughts of committing murder, against the last Uchiha, halted. She looked with pity at her favorite blond and shook her head. "Naruto, that is Haruno Sakura. She's not an impostor nor a clone. And... as far as I could tell, there is nothing wrong with her except for the concussion that you gave her."

Tsunade decided to leave out the part about Sakura being in a coma. She didn't want Naruto to worry about his teammate any more than he had to. And the coma appeared to be unrelated to the concussion anyway.

"But, Sakura-chan would never really try to kill me! Not even for Sasuke!"

Again, thoughts of killing a certain Uchiha, danced in the Hokage's head. "I'm going to get Hinata and Neji to look at her chakra system to see if there is anything wrong with it. All the tests that I've run on her so far, haven't given me any clues about what could be wrong. I wish it was just a simple case of a jutsu being performed on her, but from what you and Kakashi have told me, nothing strange happened on your mission and you didn't have any visitors show up at your camp last night. How she could have met up with the Uchiha, or anyone else for that matter, is a mystery. And you even told me that she was acting normal up until the moment when she tried to kill you."

"You spoke to Kakashi already?!" Naruto was upset that she would talk to Kakashi instead of coming right back to tell him how Sakura was doing. He had been waiting in the office for almost two hours to hear news of her condition.

"He was there at the hospital, brat! He somehow heard about Sakura being brought in and showed up asking about it. So I took the opportunity to ask him some questions of my own. Speak of the devil."

Kakashi walked into the room, after climbing in through the window.

Tsunade glared at the intruder. "There is a door, you know!"

Kakashi raised a brow at the woman, a smirk hidden behind his mask. "Sorry. But it seems like this is a conversation that I should be a part of." He looked over at his blond teammate. "Don't you think, Naruto?"

"I didn't have time to go hunting you down, Kakashi-sensei! I needed to find out if Sakura-chan was okay."

The Hokage cleared her throat. "Actually, I told Kakashi to meet us here. I have a mission for the both of you. Well, three of you. Shikamaru will take Sakura's place in Team Kakashi for this mission."

Naruto glared at the woman. "We don't have time for a mission, old woman! We need to find out what happened to Sakura-chan!"

"I know that, brat!" She refrained from clobbering the idiot, just barely. "That is what this mission is about. No matter how long it takes you, I want the three of you to find Uchiha Sasuke and bring him back to this village. Alive." Even if it turned out that the Uchiha had nothing to do with what happened to Sakura, Tsunade had to get him back to Konoha to make sure. She couldn't just let him get away with it, either, if he was guilty.

Naruto stared at the Hokage in surprise, then nodded his head. His face filled with determination. "You got it. I'll definitely find that bastard and bring him back. But he didn't do this, old woman. It's not Sasuke's style."

Kakashi looked with pity at the blond man. He knows how much Naruto wants to believe in his friends, but Kakashi also knows that people can change over time and it was entirely possible that Sasuke was involved with what happened to Sakura. But for the mission's sake, he wouldn't say anything negative about Sasuke to Naruto. Naruto didn't need to be thinking that Sasuke had betrayed him once again. As long as Naruto believed in Sasuke's innocence, then he would work hard to find him in order to clear his name. They would need this determination of the blond's in order to complete their mission.

* * *

Sasuke grunted in annoyance. He paced the small room he was in, his mind thinking of and discarding many plans. Yet nothing that he could think of, would help him get out of this cell. He stopped pacing and looked at the wall on the opposite side of the room and waited. A man walked in with a large grin on his face. 

"You really should just give up, Sasuke-kun. You are never getting out of here. You will rot in this place forever."

Sasuke glared at the man. His face only showing his annoyance. He wasn't about to let this asshole know that he was worried that he could be right.

"Still don't want to talk?" The man laughed. "Of course, you've never really been much of a talker anyway, right? Well, except to make demands. But I'm the one in charge now. You really should be nicer to me, you know? Not that it will make much of a difference." He turned his back on the last Uchiha, knowing that he wouldn't attack. Sasuke had tried before and he wasn't a genius for nothing. "Everything is going according to my plan. I really can't wait until I see the Kyuubi vessel again. I told him I would get my revenge, you know."

Sasuke growled in irritation. "Would you just shut up?! Why do you keep coming in here and repeating yourself over and over? You're so fucking annoying!"

The other man turned around to face Sasuke, laughing. "I know. That's why I do it. I love to annoy you. It's not like I have much else to do while I wait for the others to arrive. The trap has been set and it's just a matter of time before I get to see the results of it. I am so looking forward to this!"

Sasuke turned his face away, refusing to say anything more. He just wanted this insane monster to leave, so he could come up with a way to get out of there. There was no way Sasuke was going to allow this bastard to win. Even if Sasuke didn't have much to live for anymore, he was too stubborn to quit.

"You are so boring, Sasuke-kun. I really don't understand why he wanted you so much. I told him it would be a mistake to allow you to join us, but he was just too obsessed with having the chance to get the sharingan. And for him, it didn't really matter how dangerous you were, actually, I think the danger was what thrilled him the most. And really, only you, like your brother, stood a chance in defeating his soul transference jutsu. Just because you have those damn eyes!"

Kabuto thought again, like many times before, of taking Sasuke's eyes away from him. But he wanted the Uchiha bastard to see the results of Kabuto's revenge with his own eyes. Just as Sasuke had been an avenger, now Kabuto was. And even though it was Orochimaru's own carelessness that had brought about his demise, Kabuto still blamed Sasuke and wanted him to pay. Nothing was the same without Orochimaru. Kabuto felt very alone and he hated it. He hated that he had cared so much for his master. He hated that he had let himself become so dependent on him. Yet, he had also loved Orochimaru.

Kabuto turned around and walked toward the wall that he had entered from. He spoke as the door appeared, "Soon, I will have my revenge." But before he was completely out of the room, he paused, turning his head he looked back at Sasuke. "Oh, by the way, your former teammate, Haruno Sakura... she will be dying soon. By her own hand." With those last words, he disappeared.

Sasuke wasn't sure how to feel about the possibility that Sakura might die. Did he feel anything at all? Was he supposed to? He did remember getting along with her pretty well when they were younger. But any feelings that he had had for her, were in the past. He knew that he had once thought of her as a friend and someone to protect. He even had some fond memories of her, but there were some that were not so pleasant. He remembered when she would become really annoying by proclaiming her love for him and asking him to go on dates with her. Even if he was used to females doing things like that, all the time, it didn't mean that he had to like it.

Really, the only reason that Sasuke even tolerated Sakura and actually found some things to like about her, was because of Naruto. Because Naruto cared so much about her. It made him look more closely at her, in order to find out why. Outside of his own family, Sasuke had always felt the closest to Naruto. And because of his feelings for the blond, he'd considered going back to Konoha, if he survived killing his brother.

But then Kabuto had appeared. Kabuto, who he had never once considered a real threat and had left alive because of that reason. Sasuke really regretted that stupid decision now. He should have killed the bastard when he had the chance. Now here he was, trapped, without any way to access his chakra in order to escape. Kabuto had appeared right when Sasuke had finished his fight with Uchiha Madara. He had used some kind of jutsu that not only drained Sasuke's chakra, close to being non-existent, but had also caused him to lose consciousness.

He had just finished killing his own brother when Madara had shown up to engage Sasuke in battle. It hadn't been long before Naruto, also, showed up. The blond had jumped right into the fight. Normally, Sasuke would have been pissed to have Naruto interfere in one of his fights, but the battle against Itachi had taken a lot out of him, especially emotionally, and so Sasuke had decided it would be better to work with Naruto, instead of against him. That fight had brought back memories of when the two had worked together on missions, back when Sasuke had still been a part of Team 7. Sasuke had actually found himself enjoying the fight, forgetting that he had just recently killed his own brother. Despite the help from Naruto though, Sasuke had lost a lot of his chakra and strength during the battle, which left him vulnerable to Kabuto, who had been waiting for the opportunity to capture him.

* * *

The next day... 

Kakashi called out for his team to stop. He looked at them and said quietly. "We're being watched."

Shikamaru nodded. "Just one."

Naruto looked at Shikamaru in amazement. But the lazy genius just ignored him, keeping his eyes on the older man instead.

"Naruto, I need you to create your clones as a diversion and have them spread out and start searching for our stalker. Shikamaru and I will work on capturing him."

Naruto nodded at Kakashi and did as requested, then hid in a nearby tree to watch. Kakashi and Shikamaru disappeared together, leaving Naruto alone to wait. After five minutes had passed with nothing happening, Naruto grew impatient. He was about to leave his hiding place, when the sound of a thud caused him to whip his head around to look. But before he could make out who it was that had landed behind him, he started losing consciousness. He heard a yell, that sounded like Shikamaru's voice, but he wasn't able to see what was happening. The next thing he felt was a sharp pain in his head as it hit the tree that he had been standing on.

Five minutes later... Kakashi arrived back in the clearing where he had left Naruto and saw Shikamaru lying on the ground, unconscious. He went to the young man and checked him to make sure he was still breathing, then checked for injuries. Seeing that he was okay, Kakashi looked around the area for a sign of Naruto, but he couldn't sense the blond's chakra signature anywhere, nor see him. He heard a groan so he went back to Shikamaru and crouched down beside him. "Are you okay?"

Shikamaru forced himself to raise up. "I feel drained, like I lost a lot of chakra." All of a sudden he remembered what happened and looked around quickly. "Where's Naruto?"

Kakashi sighed. "I was going to ask you the same question. He wasn't here when I arrived and I can't sense his chakra signature." Kakashi stood up from his crouch beside the other ninja, then pulled out a scroll to summon Pakkun. He looked down at the little dog when it appeared. "I need you to find Naruto."

"Alright, Kakashi. Where was he last seen?" Pakkun looked over at Shikamaru curiously, then looked back at Kakashi.

Shikamaru also looked at Kakashi, then looked over at one of the trees. Pointing to it, he said, "Naruto was up in that tree over there, the last time I saw him. Orochimaru's bitch, Kabuto, was standing near him. He's the one that did something to me before I had a chance to do anything. It looked like he had done the same thing to Naruto."

"Damn it. That's all we need. He must have taken Naruto with him." Kakashi looked down at Pakkun. "Start your search from that tree then."

The dog nodded at him and then leaped up into the tree to search for clues.

Kakashi helped Shikamaru to stand up. "Are you going to be alright? We need to hurry and find Naruto. If Kabuto took Naruto, then he may have had something to do with what happened to Sakura. I can't think of any other reason that he would take Naruto, since the last time they saw each other, Kabuto was actually quite friendly towards him."

"Then why harm him now?" Shikamaru wished he felt better so that he could think more clearly. The way he was now, he wouldn't be of much help and he had no idea how long it would take him to get his chakra reserves back up.

"I wish I knew."

"Well, as for how I'm feeling, whatever Kabuto did, it drained my chakra to the point that I can't do any jutsus."

Kakashi frowned at the other man. That wasn't good. If Kabuto had a way to drain his opponent of chakra to this point, in just a few seconds, then Kakashi would have to be very careful and make sure Kabuto didn't get the chance to do the same to him. "I won't abandon Naruto, but if you need to go back to Konoha..."

Shikamaru interrupted, shaking his head. "No, I want to help you find Naruto. Given some time, my chakra should hopefully get back to normal, but even if it doesn't, you could still use my brain to help rescue Naruto."

Pakkun popped up in front of Kakashi. "I can't follow Naruto's chakra because there is no trace of it to be found, but I can track the other one's."

Kakashi looked at Shikamaru. "As soon as you're feeling up to it, then we'll go after Kabuto."

Shikamaru sighed. "Why do things always turn out to be so troublesome when dealing with Naruto? I'm fine. We can go now."

Kakashi smiled at the younger man and then looked at Pakkun again. "Lead the way, Pakkun."

* * *

Naruto groaned as he woke up. He felt so lethargic, but something was urging him to wake up. He could feel eyes on him. Instead of trying to raise himself up though, he turned his head to look around first. 

"It's about time you woke up, Naruto."

Naruto jerked in surprise and tried to raise up, but fell immediately back to the floor. The cold, hard floor. _What the fuck?_ He looked at the other man, the one that he had come to find. But it seemed that Sasuke had found him first.

"What have you done, bastard?! Why have you kidnapped me?!" Naruto tried once again to get up and this time was able to get himself up into a sitting position. _Why do I feel so weak?_

"Moron. Why would I want to kidnap you?"

Naruto growled, then shouted, "Bastard! Who else would do it? You're the one in here with me?!"

"Well, you got one thing right. I am in here with you. Not that I want to be."

Naruto was about to accuse the bastard again when he stopped to think about the other's words. He quickly looked around the room and noticed that there didn't seem to be a door anywhere. "Where the hell am I?!"

"Trapped in a room with no way out. Just like me, dobe." Sasuke fought not to laugh. The situation really wasn't that funny. But he realized he had missed Naruto, even if the blond was an idiot.

"Trapped?" Naruto stared at his old friend. Then he remembered Sakura. "Sasuke, when was the last time that you saw Sakura-chan?"

Sasuke frowned at the strange question. "Why are you asking me that? You know when the last time was. It was at the last fight we had together."

"When we fought your grandpa."

Sasuke glared at the blond. "That bastard was not my grandfather, you idiot!"

Naruto laughed, he couldn't help it. "You're the one with the crazy family members, bastard. Just accept the truth!"

Sasuke repressed the urge to hit the blond and gritted his teeth. "So, why did you ask about Sakura? You did have a reason, right?" He remembered what Kabuto had told him about her and waited to hear what Naruto had to say.

Naruto's face became sad. "Yeah... so you haven't seen her since then?"

"No, I haven't and I don't like repeating myself, Naruto."

"Sakura told me that she had seen you recently. She told me that right after she tried to kill me."

Sasuke looked at Naruto in surprise. Kabuto hadn't told him about that. "Well? What happened to her?" He wondered if she was already dead now. Did she really kill herself like Kabuto had said she would? Maybe after trying to kill Naruto?

"We don't know. That's why we came to look for you. To find out the truth."

"We?" Sasuke scoffed at the blond. "So you think I had something to do with this? And who are 'we'?"

"Kakashi-sensei, Shikamaru and I were sent on a mission to find you and take you back to Konoha. And no, I don't think you did that to Sakura-chan. If you wanted me dead, you would have come after me yourself."

"You're damn right."

Naruto couldn't help but grin at his most precious person. Yeah, he and Sasuke had a lot of problems between them to sort out, but he wanted so badly to just grab the dark-haired man and drag him back to Konoha where he belonged. And he wanted even so much more than that. But he knew that Sasuke didn't want the same things. Sasuke wanted to revive his clan. It was one of his "ambitions".

Sasuke had to force himself not to grin back at the blond. Their situation was serious and they needed to come up with a way to escape. Sasuke had no idea what Kabuto planned to do with Naruto, but there was no way that he would allow the madman to use Naruto in his revenge against Sasuke.

Naruto's grin faded as he remembered their situation. "So, who was it that kidnapped us?"

"Kabuto."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Kabuto? Why the hell would he do that?" Then Naruto remembered the last time he saw Kabuto. The crazy bastard had injected Orochimaru's DNA into himself and had looked really freaky. Naruto also remembered that Kabuto had said something about getting revenge for the snake bastard's death. _Damn! I should have took what he said seriously. But I was so busy trying to find Sasuke that it slipped my mind._ "He wants revenge against you for killing Orochimaru."

Sasuke nodded. "Wow, dobe, you're not always an idiot, are you?"

Naruto jumped up and tried to throw a punch at the other man's face, but Sasuke dodged it and then grabbed Naruto from behind, pinning his arms to his sides.

"As much fun as it would be to spar with you again, I think we have more important matters to worry about."

Naruto growled, then pulled away when Sasuke loosened his grip on him. He spun around to glare into the other's face. "When will you ever stop thinking I'm an idiot? You still think you're better than me, but I've killed Akatsuki members, bastard! You can't call me a dead last anymore!"

Sasuke looked deeply into the blond's blue eyes, a frown upon his face. "We don't have time for this right now, Naruto. We need to work together to find a way out of here."

Naruto forced himself to calm down, then looked questioningly into the other's eyes. "Are you going to come back with me this time?"

Sasuke nodded. _Why not? It's not like I have anything better to do._ "Sure, if you help me take down Kabuto."

Naruto grinned. "No problem!"

Sasuke smirked. "You do realize that you can't use any chakra, right?"

Naruto's grin faded. Hoping that his friend was just joking around, he put his fingers together in the sign for molding chakra. Nothing happened. He looked at Sasuke with a frown on his face. "You weren't kidding around?"

"Moron, if I could use my chakra I wouldn't need your help in getting out of here." He smirked at the expression that the blond was now making. _Is he pouting? How childish._

"Why can't we use chakra, bastard?" Naruto tried to mold chakra again. But instead of what happened before, which was nothing, he actually felt a bit of chakra start to move through his body, so he concentrated harder.

Meanwhile, Sasuke continued to smirk at the blond, knowing that the idiot was too stubborn to give up, even if it was impossible. But his smirk soon died as he realized that something was happening with Naruto. _What the hell?_ _But then th__is is Naruto, who has always been number one at surprising people._ Sasuke waited and watched as the blond continued to draw on Kyuubi's chakra, forcing himself to ignore the annoying smirk that Naruto now had on his face.

TBC


	2. A terrible loss

**It's Not Always About Revenge**

_1st Person thoughts are represented in italics._

**Chapter Two: A terrible loss**

Kabuto smirked as he watched Kakashi and the other ninja, who he remembered was called Shikamaru, follow behind the dog that was taking them on a wild goose chase. He, himself, had been following them for over an hour, to make sure that they actually fell for his ruse. _I don't think those two will be causing me any trouble. I should get back to my guests now._ He turned away and headed in the direction he had come from. Kabuto laughed to himself as he thought about how close his hideout was to where he had captured Naruto. _Poor Kakashi, you always get so close, but you can never catch me_.

When Kabuto got back to his hideout, he walked into a naturally-hidden cave that served as his temporary home. He lived and worked here alone, because he didn't trust any of Orochimaru's former Sound ninja to not betray him. They had been in fear of their deceased leader, but the majority of them never showed any respect for Orochimaru's successor. Even though Kabuto had part of Orochimaru inside him and was more powerful than any of the other followers of the late sannin, they still didn't want to serve Kabuto and he really didn't want to trust putting his life in the hands of people like that. So he was alone. He would only use the services of other people when he absolutely had to.

He walked down to the cell and passed through a hidden door in the wall, that would only open when Kabuto's chakra touched it. His eyes widened in shock as he looked around the small room and saw that it was empty. _No fucking way._ He tried to sense the chakra signature of the recent occupants, forgetting for a moment that he had repressed their chakra himself. Did they somehow manage to hide themselves? Yet he knew that was impossible. Kabuto suddenly froze in shock as he sensed the Kyuubi's chakra. _Impossible! That jutsu should have repressed even the demon's chakra._ Kabuto quickly turned to leave the room, he was in an agitated state, thinking that his prisoners had somehow managed to escape. Then he stopped, his body still standing in the doorway, when he felt a tug on his shirt and looked down. His eyes widened in surprise.

Clinging onto his shirt was a large clawed hand that was covered with demon chakra. All of a sudden, something sped through the doorway, pulling Kabuto out of the cell with it. Kabuto looked up and saw a grinning, one-tailed, Kyuubi-cloaked Naruto. But what really pissed Kabuto off, even more, was the sight of a smirking Uchiha, whom Naruto had just let go of.

"So, Naruto-kun. It appears that you have surprised me yet again. How were you able to access the Kyuubi's chakra?"

Instead of answering right away, Naruto grabbed Kabuto and wrapped him up in his tail. "I have no idea why your jutsu didn't work on Kyuubi, but I'm glad that it didn't."

Not wanting to waste time listening to Kabuto talk, since Sasuke had had to listen to the insane man every day for the past three months, whether he wanted to or not, he looked at Naruto and said in a cold voice, "Don't talk to him, just kill him."

Kabuto sneered at the Uchiha. "Don't think this is over, Sasuke-kun. I haven't even begun to make you pay yet." Then Kabuto disappeared.

Sasuke turned and glared angrily at Naruto. "You just had to be slow about killing him, didn't you?"

Naruto's eyes glared back. His voice growled out, "You ungrateful bastard! I got us free, didn't I?!"

"You also let him get away, Na-ru-to," Sasuke said through gritted teeth, holding back the urge to clobber the blond over the head. He then realized that he was becoming as childish as Naruto, the longer he stayed around him. But he found that he really didn't care anymore. Naruto was always able to bring out the worst and the best sides of him. Even though he was angry right now, he hadn't felt this alive in a very long time.

Naruto was really pissed off that Sasuke wouldn't acknowledge that he had saved his ass. Naruto had to fight to keep from drawing on more chakra from Kyuubi, which would gain him more tails. Even though he wanted to beat the crap out of the bastard, he didn't want to kill him. So Naruto forced Kyuubi's chakra all the way back until he was no longer in the one-tailed form. "Let's get out of here, bastard."

Sasuke glared at the blond. "Hn." He turned and walked away, leaving Naruto to follow.

Naruto, not wanting to have to follow behind the bastard, after having been insulted by him, hurried up to push past him and take the lead.

Sasuke had to curb his own childish impulse that wanted to yank Naruto back and throw him to the ground. _Damn dobe. Always having to be so immature. When will you ever grow up?_ Sasuke having completely forgotten, that just a few moments before he had thought being childish wasn't so bad, continued to grumble and complain in his head, about how annoying Naruto's childish behavior was.

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke had been traveling for about a couple hours when they came across a small village. Knowing that they needed to find out where they were, they went into the village and asked a random villager what the name of the village was. Naruto had never heard of it, but Sasuke had and he was able to figure out which direction Konoha was in and about how far away. 

Since Kabuto hadn't bothered with robbing them of their money, the two were able to get a decent meal, Naruto actually eating enough for several people, in Sasuke's opinion. Since Sasuke had been imprisoned for three months, with Kabuto only giving him enough extra water to use for bathing once a week, which also had to be used for washing his clothes, Sasuke insisted that they also take the time to get cleaned up in the village's public bath. All in all, they had ended up spending close to two hours in the village before they left it.

After they had walked a few miles away from the village, Sasuke stated in a manner that was final, "We'll camp overnight here, then head to Konoha in the morning."

With Naruto's pride stung from having Sasuke think he could just order him around, he decided he wasn't going to just do what Sasuke said. He shook his head. "No, I'm not tired. We're going to keep going until we get to Konoha. You probably only want to camp here so you can sneak away while I'm sleeping."

Sasuke glared fiercely at the blond. "Are you saying that I will go back on my word, Naruto?"

Naruto realized he may have went too far with his accusation, but at the moment he didn't give a damn. The bastard had it coming. So he pushed it even further. Smirking maliciously at the other, he answered, "Oh, I don't know, Sasuke. It's not like you haven't run away before."

Sasuke slammed his fist into Naruto's face.

An hour later... both shinobi lay on their backs, panting for air. What was strange, or maybe it would only be strange to other people, was that they both had smiles on their faces. For Sasuke, it had been a long time since he had felt so relaxed and able to let a smile come through. He hadn't had anything to smile about really, since his Team 7 days and even then, getting a smile out of the former avenger hadn't been an easy task.

Naruto turned his head to look at his companion. He panted in between words. "Hey, bastard. I won."

Sasuke turned his head to look at the blond. A glare in his eyes, yet his smile showed that he wasn't really angry, he replied, "Dobe, you know that you'll never be able to win against me. It's just not possible."

Naruto found his happiness at being able to spar with Sasuke again, turn to anger as he heard the other man's words. His blue eyes, that looked into Sasuke's own onyx ones, were filled with angry determination and his voice was low, yet could still be clearly heard by the other, "Just wait. When I catch my breath, I'll show you again who the winner is."

Even though Sasuke hadn't spoken to him in malice, Naruto believed that his former teammate still thought he was superior to the blond. And though Naruto wanted to believe that Sasuke really would go back to Konoha with him, he couldn't help feeling insecure about their friendship, especially since he loved the bastard. Would Sasuke ever really acknowledge how strong Naruto is and did Sasuke really think of him as a friend? Was Naruto only Sasuke's friend when it was convenient to have one, not because he really cared about Naruto? He knew that he would always have an unrequited love for the bastard, but he could live with that as long as he had Sasuke in his life.

Sasuke had looked away when he realized that Naruto was still angry with him, despite the camaraderie that they both had been feeling, from halfway through their fight/spar to the end of it. Yeah, he understood that the dobe had many justifiable reasons to be angry with him. He was sure that Naruto kept thinking that Sasuke would betray him. And even for Naruto, it would be hard to forgive Sasuke for everything that he had said and done to the blond in the past. Sasuke really wanted to start a new life now and he wanted to keep his friendship with Naruto, even if he knew he didn't deserve it. _Naruto doesn't hold grudges against people, unless those people hurt his precious ones. He held a grudge against Orochimaru because of me_.

"Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto. "Yeah?"

"Was it Kabuto that did something to change Sakura-chan?" While Naruto had been thinking about whether or not Sasuke really cared about him, his thoughts had turned to his pink-haired friend and what had happened to her. Since it wasn't Sasuke that did it and Kabuto had kidnapped Sasuke for revenge, then it stood to reason that it was probably Kabuto that had done something to make Sakura attack Naruto. But he didn't understand why Kabuto would do that, just to get revenge on Sasuke. What was the point?

Sasuke hid his emotions behind a blank mask. He knew that Naruto cared about Sakura very much, but to lie to the dobe about this, in order to protect him, would be useless, since Naruto would find out soon anyway . "Yeah, I believe he did do something. He told me that Sakura would commit suicide."

Naruto's whole body froze in shock as he heard those words, that were spoken in such a matter of fact way by the other. But then the words fully registered in his mind, causing him to get up quickly. He yelled at the dark-haired man, who was still lying calmly on the ground, "You really are a bastard! Why didn't you tell me this earlier?! We have to get back to Konoha right now!" Naruto didn't wait for an answer from Sasuke, instead he ran off, leaving the other to stay or follow. Right now, all that mattered to Naruto, was to get to Sakura and stop her before she killed herself.

Deciding to give Naruto some time alone before following him, Sasuke waited a few minutes and then stood up, but before he could leave to follow the blond, he noticed there was a small dog sitting in front of him.

"It's been a while, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke frowned at the grinning face of the familiar looking dog. "So, where is your master?"

"Right here."

Sasuke turned around and saw his former sensei standing a few feet away. Shikamaru was behind him, panting and bent over to catch his breath."You should have shown up five minutes earlier, Kakashi."

Kakashi stared at his former student. He and Shikamaru had wasted two hours following a false trail before they realized that they had been tricked. And then there were the two hours spent heading back to where they had started. After they had arrived back there, Pakkun had informed Kakashi that he could now sense Kyuubi's chakra and that Naruto had been near there recently. Wishing that Naruto would have just waited for them in their old location, they again had to follow Pakkun, as the dog followed the trail of the demon's chakra signature, which eventually lead, after two more hours of travel, to where they were currently standing now, in front of the very person that they had been sent on a mission to find. What luck.

"Sasuke, where is Naruto?"

Sasuke turned to run off in the direction that Naruto had headed in. He answered Kakashi as he ran away down the road. "He just left about five minutes ago! He's going back to Konoha!"

Kakashi, realizing that Sasuke wasn't trying to escape, but was instead running in the direction of Konoha, ran to catch up with him and then stayed beside him. "Oh? I find it strange that he left without you."

Shikamaru glared at their backs as he took off after them. "When I get back I'm going to tell the Hokage that it's too troublesome to send me on missions with Kakashi and Naruto. It's not like I'm really needed anyway. The damn mission is getting finished on it's own, whether I'm here or not."

Pakkun raced up to Kakashi. "It looks like you don't need me anymore, so I'm going."

Kakashi turned to smile at the dog. "I really appreciate your help, Pakkun."

The small dog snorted. "Right. I'm thinking I agree with that lazy ninja behind us. You guys are too troublesome." He gave a doggy grin and then vanished.

Kakashi laughed and then looked over at Sasuke again. "So, can you please tell me why Naruto left without you?"

Sasuke kept his eyes ahead and picked up speed. "He's off to try and save Sakura. But I think it's too late. She's probably already dead."

Kakashi grabbed Sasuke and jerked them both to a stop.

Shikamaru barely avoided running into them and after he, too, had stopped, he noticed the angry look on the silver-haired ninja's face.

"What do you mean that Sakura's probably dead?! I want you to tell me everything! Did you have anything to do with this?"

Sasuke pulled his arm from the other man's grasp and glared at him. "So, the great Kakashi didn't notice that this is all Kabuto's doing? That bastard set this all up, not me. He wants revenge for Orochimaru's death."

Kakashi forced himself to speak calmly. "Yes, we noticed he was involved. He's the one that attacked Shikamaru and Naruto, taking Naruto with him."

"He had taken me first, Kakashi. I spent three damn months locked up in a cell, and then today he all of a sudden tosses Naruto in there with me. Kabuto told me yesterday that Sakura would be dying soon by her own hand. But I didn't know that Sakura had tried to kill Naruto. I learned that from the dobe himself."

Kakashi looked back at Shikamaru. "We're going to have to hurry, but I need to send Pakkun out again. He can get to the Hokage faster than us and tell her about everything that has happened and to warn her about Sakura. I hope we're not too late."

Shikamaru nodded. He hoped so, too. He rather liked Sakura and he knew it would hurt Naruto and Ino the most, if Sakura died. _Hasn't Konoha lost enough people already?_

* * *

Naruto sped into the village, not bothering to stop at the gate to greet the chuunin guards, Izumo and Kotetsu. He practically flew through the streets, sometimes hopping up onto roofs in order to take the shortest path possible to the hospital. He wasn't going to stop at the Hokage's office to tell the old woman what happened, because his first priority was to make sure Sakura was still alive. When he arrived at the hospital he realized he had no idea which room Sakura would be in, so he stopped to ask the nurse at the front desk. 

The nurse looked at the young man with surprise. "You haven't heard?"

"Heard what?! Just tell me what room she is in, damn it! I don't have time to waste talking with you!"

The woman glared at the blond, but forced herself to stay professional. "Young man, I'm sorry to say that she's gone."

"What do you mean gone? She's been released?"

"No, I'm sorry. What I mean is that she died. This morning, actually."

Naruto found he couldn't move. _No, it can't be true. The bitch is just lying to me!_ "Tell me where she is, damn it! I'll search this whole damn hospital if I have to!"

The nurse stood up and said firmly. "Young man, I'm sorry if she was a friend of yours, but you need to keep your voice down. I spoke the truth. Just go home."

Naruto growled at the woman. His eyes turned red and his nails grew long.

"Naruto, come with me."

Naruto turned around quickly at the sound of the Hokage's voice.

Tsunade walked up to the blond and put her arm around him. She looked at the nurse. "Sorry about the commotion. I'll take care of this now." She used some of her strength to force Naruto to follow her away from the nurse's desk. "I want you to come with me and I'll explain everything to you, Naruto."

Naruto let himself be lead away by the Hokage. He realized that he had lost track of time when he found himself sitting in a chair in front of the old woman's desk. In his mind, his thoughts kept repeating over and over. It just wasn't possible for him to be too late to save Sakura-chan. She couldn't have died by herself. It just wasn't possible for her to be dead. He wanted to scream, to release his pain, but unlike what happened when he had thought that Gaara had died, he still couldn't let himself believe that he had lost Sakura. There was no body to see, no proof that she was gone.

Tsunade cleared her throat and tried to get the young man's attention. "Brat! Hey, idiot! Pay attention to your Hokage, will you!" When she noticed he still wasn't responding, she hit him over the head with a book that had been lying on her desk.

Naruto yelped in pain and clutched his head. He looked at the woman with a frown on his face and a whine in his voice. "Why the hell did you hit me, you old woman?!"

"Well, that got your attention, brat. You should know that there was nothing you could do, right? Something was wrong with her and there was no way to fix that."

"There was something I could do! If I had gotten back in time, she would still be alive!" Tears began to roll down his face, as the truth of Sakura's death started to sink in, but he made himself go on, burying his grief deep inside so that he could tell the Hokage who was at fault. And there would be time later to think about revenge, because Naruto was definitely going to get revenge, no matter what. "It was Kabuto, old woman. He's the one that did this to her. He used some kind of mind control jutsu on her."

"Mind control? How did you find this out?"

"Kabuto attacked me and kidnapped me. He put me in a cell with Sasuke."

Tsunade interrupted. "You found Sasuke? Where is he?"

"Let me finish, old woman!"

The Hokage hit him with another book. "Show me some respect, brat!"

"Damn it! Just listen to me! I found out from Sasuke that Kabuto had told him that Sakura-chan was going to kill herself. Kabuto wants revenge against Sasuke because of what happened to Orochimaru. He wants him to suffer by hurting his former teammates, me and Sakura-chan and probably Kakashi, too. Sakura-chan would never have tried to kill me if Kabuto hadn't done something to her."

The Hokage sat back in her chair and thought about how Kabuto could have had the chance to do this to Sakura. _Did he manage to get into the village to do it? Does he have an accomplice here? Or was this done while Sakura was out on a mission?_

She looked at Naruto. "You're right. Sakura wasn't the type to try to kill someone who was like a brother to her, even if it was for love. And she would only kill people if there was no other way to protect someone. She was a healer, not a murderer."

"Of course, Sakura-chan would never do anything like that!" Well, she had nearly killed him when she got angry at him over stupid things, like pranks, but never by punching a hole through his chest, just a few broken bones here or there. No, only Sasuke punched holes through his friends' chests. Naruto grimaced as he remembered the pain of that betrayal. But even though that had happened, he still loved Sasuke anyway. Because he understood why he did it. He didn't like it, but he could understand. And Naruto couldn't control his heart. His heart wouldn't let him hate Sasuke. _Damn, I left Sasuke! I wonder if he'll even show up_.

There was a small surge of chakra in the room and then a dog, Pakkun, showed up, sitting on the top of the Hokage's desk. He quickly told the Hokage what Kakashi had told him to say.

"We know about Sakura already, Pakkun. Find Kakashi and tell him to come straight to my office. Sakura is already dead."

Naruto flinched at hearing those words again. He still didn't want to believe it was true. Tears rolled down his face, but he forced himself to hold back the sobs that were trying their best to get out. He didn't have time to let his grief overwhelm him.

After Pakkun left, the Hokage looked at her favorite ninja and then her own eyes filled with tears. She had had all day to grieve over the loss of her former student, but seeing Naruto in so much pain was bringing back her own feelings of grief. _It always hurts when you lose someone you love. We both lost Jiraiya not too long ago and now we've lost Sakura, too. There really is no way to make this easier for Naruto. He will have to get over this in time._ She wiped the tears out of her eyes and then cleared her throat. "Naruto, how did you get away from Kabuto? Is he still alive?"

The blond raised his head and looked at the woman. "Kabuto had used a jutsu that drained me of chakra and caused me to lose consciousness. When I woke up I was with Sasuke. I found out that Kabuto had done the same to him, right after our battle with Uchiha Madara. Sasuke's been his prisoner all this time."

"So, how did you guys get away if you couldn't use your chakra?"

"Kabuto's jutsu only suppressed my chakra. You know how Kyuubi's chakra is almost limitless, right?"

The woman nodded and then a grin appeared on her face. "Ah! How stupid of him!" She started to laugh. "Okay, so you used Kyuubi's chakra to escape then?"

Despite the sadness and pain of losing Sakura, Naruto couldn't help but grin back at the woman. "Yeah! We couldn't go through the door, couldn't really even see it unless Kabuto came through it, and even then only Kabuto could go in and out of the room. So what I did was use a genjutsu to make it look like the room was empty. Sasuke was the one that told me how to do it. When I saw the door appear, when Kabuto was leaving the room, I released the genjutsu, grabbed Sasuke and then grabbed Kabuto before he could get out the door. I guess since I was holding on to Kabuto, I was able to get through the door. I dragged him and Sasuke out with me." Naruto then remembered how Kabuto got away from him. "But Sasuke said something that distracted me and before I could beat the crap out of Kabuto, he escaped."

"Kabuto escaped or Sasuke?"

"Kabuto! Geez, weren't you listening, old woman?!" Another book was thrown at him, but this time it hit him in the face and he fell over backwards in his chair. "Damn it, old woman! Why do you keep hitting me?!"

"Because you're an disrespectful brat. So, Kabuto escaped and now Kakashi and Shikamaru are bringing Sasuke back with them? How did you end up losing Sasuke anyway?"

Naruto got back up in his seat again, nursing his bruised nose. He glared at the woman. "I didn't lose him! The bastard was supposed to follow me back to village. He had promised me." Naruto's voice had gotten softer on the last sentence as he remembered the promise Sasuke had made him. _I wonder if Kakashi had to force him to come back or did Sasuke follow along with them on his own?_ Naruto really wanted to know.

Tsunade stared at the blond man in sympathy. She knew how much Naruto wanted Sasuke to come back. She even suspected that Naruto's feelings for the young man ran deeper than was normal for a friend. She wasn't certain that Naruto would go as far to get back anyone else, as he has for the young Uchiha. The boy was obsessed. All of a sudden, a loud knock came from the door. "Enter!"

Naruto turned around to see who was coming in. His eyes widened as Kakashi, followed by Shikamaru and then Sasuke, walked into the room. _He really came back!_

"Yo!" Kakashi waved at Naruto. "Looks like you made it back in one piece."

Naruto quickly forgot his happiness at seeing Sasuke back home again, where he belonged. Naruto remembered why he had rushed back on his own. His eyes filled with tears again, but he forced himself not to bawl in front of the others, especially Sasuke.

Kakashi's own eyes filled with sadness when he saw the blond fighting back his tears. Kakashi had cared about Sakura, too. But he knew that Naruto had been the closest to her, out of all of them. Naruto had cared about his female teammate for many years, he had even had a crush on her when he was younger. For all Kakashi knew, Naruto could have had a crush on her up until the very end.

The Hokage cleared her throat and looked at Shikamaru. "You're dismissed, but I expect you to hand in a report on everything that happened sometime tomorrow. I also want you to show up at the hospital in the morning, so that you can be checked out. We'll need to find out how to fix your chakra control problem."

Shikamaru nodded. He looked at Naruto and almost said something to try and comfort him, but then thought better of it. He would talk with Naruto when the blond was ready. He looked back at the Hokage and bowed. "Yes, Hokage-sama." Then he left the room.

Tsunade looked at Kakashi. "Did Uchiha Sasuke come back of his volition?"

Kakashi looked at Sasuke, then Naruto. He winked at the blond man and then looked back at the Hokage. "Yes, Hokage-sama. He had been about to follow Naruto when Shikamaru and I showed up. We delayed him a bit with our questions, but then we all three came back together."

Naruto looked at the Hokage. "He wanted to come back. He told me so. He was even planning to come back before he got kidnapped." Naruto couldn't remember if Sasuke had actually said that, but he didn't want his friend to get treated like a criminal.

Sasuke stayed silent since what Naruto said was almost the truth anyway. He had been thinking about coming back before being captured by Kabuto.

Tsunade looked at the Uchiha. "You do have people willing to stand up for you and you did kill Konoha's enemies. Even if it was for selfish reasons..."

Naruto jumped up out of his seat. "It wasn't all for selfish reasons, old woman! He could have run off after I showed up to fight that really old Uchiha bastard, since he had already killed Itachi. Instead he stayed to help me."

The Hokage glared at Naruto. "If I had another book on this desk, do you know where it would be right now, brat?" She looked at Sasuke again. "I have to discuss what is to be done about you with the elders, but because of how Naruto feels about you and how hard he has worked to bring you back, I will recommend the lightest punishment that I can. Until then, you are to stay with Kakashi and it will be his job to keep an eye on you until your punishment has been decided. Since you aren't able to use any chakra right now, then chakra suppressing restraints won't have to be used. But I am still going to try to find a way to help you, like I am with Shikamaru, to get back control of your chakra."

Sasuke nodded at the Hokage to show his acceptance of her words. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

Kakashi also nodded his head. "I'll make sure he stays out of trouble, Hokage-sama."

"You do that, Kakashi."

Naruto looked at Sasuke and then back to the Hokage. "Can I talk to him in private before he leaves with Kakashi-sensei?"

Tsunade nodded her head. "Yeah, brat. You have five minutes. You can talk to him out in the hall, until Kakashi comes out to fetch him. I want to talk to Kakashi alone anyway."

"Thanks, old woman!" He left the room and walked down the hall until he was far enough away from the Hokage's office to have privacy.

Sasuke followed him out in silence.

Naruto looked at his friend. "S-Sakura is d-dead." He had managed to get the words out even though they caused a terrible pain in his chest.

Sasuke nodded. "Kakashi's dog told us."

Naruto waited for the dark-haired man to say something more. He growled in anger when he realized Sasuke wasn't going to. "Damn it, bastard, don't you even care?! She was your teammate, too!" Naruto nearly choked on his next words, "She loved you!"

"I know it hurts you, Naruto, and I'm sorry for your sake. But do you want me to lie and say that I had the same feelings for her that you did, just to make you feel better?"

Naruto stared angrily into the other's eyes. Yeah, he knew that Sasuke never cared about Sakura the same way that Naruto had and even if he had, Sasuke wasn't the type to really show his emotions anyway. Not unless it was about his brother. But Naruto had hoped to see more emotion in the dark eyes than he was currently seeing. Not that his eyes were cold, like in the past when all Sasuke thought about was revenge, but they weren't exactly warm either.

It really hurt Naruto to see that Sasuke didn't care about Sakura's death, because Sakura had wanted to save Sasuke just as much as Naruto did. She had really been hurt when Sasuke had left them. And now she was gone forever. Even though Naruto had Sasuke back again, it wouldn't fill the void in his life that only Sakura could fill. Naruto hadn't been in love with her, but he had loved her. She had been part of his made-up family. A very important part, that was now missing.

Naruto continued to look into Sasuke's eyes. "Wasn't she at least like a sister to you? Or a really close friend?"

Sasuke had waited patiently while Naruto had stared at him with angry, searching eyes. He knew why the blond was doing it, so he had stood still, silently hoping that Naruto would just accept what Sasuke had said to him and then move on to another topic. But no, to Sasuke's displeasure, the stubborn blond only wanted to talk about Sakura and was intent on getting Sasuke to say what he wanted to hear.

Deciding it would probably be better to just pacify the blond instead of hitting him, since he was too tired to fight with him anyway, Sasuke answered. "She was a friend, but that was how I thought of her back when we were young, Naruto. We were apart for almost three years, remember? Which is a lot longer than the time we spent together as Team 7. A lot of things can change in three years."

"Why? Why did it have to change? Why did you leave us?"

Naruto's voice was so quiet and his words so heart-felt that Sasuke couldn't help but to feel sad himself.

He spoke as softly, "You already know why, Naruto."

"So, do you feel that way about me, too, Sasuke? The same way you feel about Sakura? If it was me that was dead, would you be acting the same?"

Sasuke looked deeply into blue, pleading eyes. He knew that his answers to these questions were very important to Naruto and he had to be careful about how he answered them. He didn't want to drive Naruto away. He needed his friendship with the blond. Without Naruto, he would be totally alone and he knew he couldn't survive like that. He had only managed to survive the loneliness when he was younger, because he had had to live in order to kill Itachi. But now with Itachi dead, Naruto was the only person left in his life to give him something to live for.

"No, no and no."

Naruto blinked in confusion. _Huh?_

Sasuke smirked, he could see that Naruto didn't understand the answers. "Three questions, three answers, moron."

Naruto glared at the other man. "I'm not a moron, bastard!" Naruto tried to remember the exact wording of the questions he had asked and when he finally remembered, he compared the answers to them. Naruto glared at Sasuke again. _Why do I always have to drag everything out of this bastard?!_ "Explain your answers!"

It was Sasuke's turn to blink in confusion. Then a condescending smirk appeared. "Alright, I'll go slowly, so that even an idiot can understand." His smirk grew wider when Naruto growled out in anger. _Insulting the dobe can be so much fun_. "No, I don't feel the same for you as I felt for Sakura, which actually fits your first two questions since they were basically the same. As for the third, no, I would not feel the same if it was you that had died instead of her." _And that's all you are going to get from me for now, Naruto._ Sasuke turned to face Kakashi who had walked up and heard Sasuke's last words to Naruto.

"So, you two finished with your talk? I need to get back home and get Sasuke tucked in." He smirked at the deadly glare that the young Uchiha threw at him.

Naruto had his own murderous thoughts about Kakashi running through his head. _Damn Kakashi for showing up now. Sasuke hadn't finished explaining what he had meant_. "Not really, so can I come over to your place tomorrow morning? I still need to talk to this bastard."

Sasuke turned his glare on the blond._ That's all I need. Listening to the dobe go on and on about Sakura, first thing in the morning._ "I'll be too busy in the morning."

Kakashi gave the dark-haired man an evil grin. Too bad Sasuke couldn't see it under the mask. "Of course you can come over tomorrow morning, Naruto. Just not too early, okay?"

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei! Well, bye, bastard!" Naruto turned and walked away.

When Kakashi could no longer see the blond-haired ninja, he turned to the Uchiha. "Well, Sasuke, it looks like you will have a fun day tomorrow. Ready to go nighty-night?"

Sasuke really wished he could access his chakra, because putting a chidori through Kakashi's face would make him feel really good right now. But he had to settle for giving the man the most deadliest glare he could give.

Kakashi grinned. _Same old Sasuke. At least some things haven't changed_.

TBC

I went ahead and posted this second chapter since I had already written it right after I wrote the first one. I won't normally be updating this fast, maybe once a week or twice a week, if I can.


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